VIII. FliegerkorpsFor more details see Luftwaffe Organization

Luftwaffe Organization

Between 1933 and 1945, the organization of the Luftwaffe underwent several changes. Originally, the German military high command decided to use an organizational structure similar to the army and navy, treating the branch as a strategic weapon of war...

(8th Air Corps) was formed 19 July 1939 in Oppeln as Fliegerführer z.b.V. The abbreviation

Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...

 z.b.V. is German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and stands for zur besonderen Verwendung (for special deployment). Fliegerführer z.b.V was renamed to VIII. Fliegerkorps on 10 November 1939. The Corps was also known as Luftwaffenkommando Schlesien between 25 January 1945 and 2 February 1945 and was united with Luftgau-Kommando VIII on 28 April 1945 and redesignated Luftwaffenkommando VIII.

Commanding officers

• Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, 19 July 1939 – 30 June 1942
• General der Flieger Martin Fiebig
  Martin Fiebig
  Martin Fiebig was a German general of Luftwaffe, serving during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
  
  , 1 July 1942 – 21 May 1943
• General der Flieger Hans Seidemann
  Hans Seidemann
  Hans Seidemann was a World War II Luftwaffe general. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
  
  , 21 May 1943 – 28 April 1945Known as Luftwaffenkommando Schlesien, 25 January 1945 – 2 February 1945